The 2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste dump was a health crisis in the Ivory Coast in which a ship registered in Panama, the Probo Koala, chartered by the Singaporean-based oil and commodity shipping company Trafigura Beheer BV, offloaded toxic waste to an Ivorian waste handling company which disposed of it at the port of Abidjan. The local contractor, a company called Tommy, dumped the waste at 12 sites in and around the city in August 2006. The dumping, which took place against a backdrop of instability in Abidjan as a result of the country's first civil war, allegedly led to 17 deaths and 20 hospitalisations, with a further 26,000 people treated for symptoms of poisoning.
In the days after the dumping, almost 100,000 Ivorians sought medical attention after Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny opened the hospitals and offered free healthcare to the capital's residents.
Trafigura originally planned to dispose of the slops – which resulted from cleaning the vessel and contained 500 tonnes of a mixture of fuel, caustic soda, and hydrogen sulfide – at the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The company refused to pay the Dutch company Amsterdam Port Services (APS) for disposal after APS raised its charge from €27 to €1,000 per cubic meter (equivalent to €38 and €1,420 in 2023). The Probo Koala was reportedly turned away by several countries before offloading the toxic waste at the Port of Abidjan. An inquiry in the Netherlands in late 2006 confirmed the composition of the waste substance.
Trafigura denied any waste was transported from the Netherlands, saying that the substances contained only tiny amounts of hydrogen sulfide, and that the company did not know the substance was to be disposed of improperly. After two Trafigura officials who traveled to Ivory Coast to offer assistance were arrested and subsequently attacked in jail, the company paid US$198 million (equivalent to US$320 million in 2025) for cleanup to the Ivorian government, without admitting wrongdoing in early 2007. A series of protests and resignations of Ivorian government officials followed this deal.
In 2008, a group of almost 30,000 Ivorians launched a civil lawsuit against Trafigura in London. Trafigura agreed to a settlement of £30 million (US$42.4 million, equivalent to £49 million in 2025 or US$63 million in 2025) to end the suit. Law firm Leigh Day, which represented the Ivorian claimants, was later ruled to have been negligent in the way it paid out the settlement, £6 million of which was embezzled by Ivorian government officials.
Incident
Background
In 2002, Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex began to accumulate significant quantities of coker gasoline, containing large amounts of sulfur and silica, at its Cadereyta refinery. By 2006 Pemex had run out of storage capacity and agreed to sell the coker gasoline to Trafigura. In early 2006, Pemex trucked the coker gasoline to Brownsville, Texas, where Trafigura loaded it aboard the Panamanian registered tanker Probo Koala, which was owned by Greek shipping company Prime Marine Management Inc. and chartered by Trafigura.
Trafigura was dealing with coker naphtha, a dirty by-product of refining crude oil containing high levels of mercaptans. Mercaptans themselves are organic compounds containing sulphur with an exceptionally strong odor. Trafigura used a process known as "caustic washing" to combine caustic soda with coker naphtha to capture the mercaptans and create a refined, sellable gasoline allowing the company to turn a high profit while simultaneously avoiding the high costs of proper refinery processes. This process had never been tried at sea before Trafigura had done so on Probo Koala, ultimately leading to the accumulation of hazardous waste and the remains of coker naphtha on board the ship. The waste resulting from the caustic washing would typically include hazardous substances such as sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and phenols.
Dumping
Without the proper knowledge of how to dispose of the toxic waste generated, Trafigura contacted various countries as a means of offloading the waste, primarily through the disguise of waste due to normal ship operations. On 2 July 2006, Trafigura attempted to dispose of the waste aboard the Probo Koala in Amsterdam. The transfer of half the waste at the port triggered an environmental incident after people in the surrounding areas complained of the pungent smells and experienced nausea, dizziness, headaches, and breathing difficulties. At high concentrations, hydrogen sulphide gas, responsible for the odors released by the transfer of this waste, can have severe consequences, including coma, convulsions, and sometimes death. In response to the odor, Amsterdam Port Services (APS) took samples of the waste for testing, however the results of these tests were not returned until October 2006-- well past the dumping of waste in Abidjan. On the basis of early test results, APS increased their processing fees from 27€ per m3 (approximately $34 USD) to 1,000€ (approximately $1,300 USD), more than 37 times their original asking. After rejecting this offer, Trafigura requested the slop previously unloaded to be pumped back into the tanks on the vessel.
The Probo Koala departed Amsterdam on 5 July 2006 for Paldiski, Estonia, with the full knowledge and approval of the Dutch authorities but without the intention of dumping their waste. After taking on unleaded gasoline in Paldiski, the ship left Estonia on 13 July 2006 on a previously-planned voyage to Lagos, Nigeria. However, according to international and European law on the movement of waste, the lack of proper inspection of waste, and the lack of information provided on the intended destination of the waste, the ship itself should have triggered further investigation prior to its departure from Estonia. Information regarding a third-party disposal company quoting a cost of 5,500€ (approximately $7,000 USD) influenced the decision of Trafigura to dump their hazardous waste in Lagos. In Lagos it unloaded the gasoline. Two offers to unload the slops in Lagos were refused by the captain and on 17 August 2006, new orders directing the ship to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire were carried out.
An agreement with a small, local, newly licensed company known as Compagnie Tommy was made prior to the illegal dumping of waste with a per unit cost of $30-35 USD per m3. On 19 August 2006, the Probo Koala offloaded more than 500 tons of toxic waste at the Port of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Trucks and drivers contracted by Compagnie Tommy were responsible for transport of the waste to Akouédo, the agreed upon dumping site as per the contract. However, after the emanating smells began making workers at the dumping site sick, the site closed several hours earlier than originally indicated and prevented further trucks from discharging their waste. As a result of the site closure, truckers began dumping waste across Abidjan at random locations near houses, workplaces, schools, fields of crops, and the city prison. Even today, there are only 18 known dumping points from this event due to data released by the UN Operational Satellite Applications Program, with a complete picture of the location of all the waste dumped in Abidjan still missing.
The health impact was immediate following the dumping of waste across the region. The morning of the 20th, the day after the offloading, a suffocating and rotten smell was reported by residents around Abidjan. People began entering the hospital in waves with similar complaints of headaches, breathing difficulties, and burning sensations of the eyes, skin and nose, requiring immediate medical attention. As more dump sites were uncovered, more people began seeking medical treatment. In response, the Minister of Health declared a medical emergency that expanded in accordance with the further discoveries of dump sites across the city. Over the following days and weeks, more extreme health problems, including neurological, respiratory, and ophthalmological effects and symptoms, overwhelmed existing medical infrastructure and led to dependence on newly designated treatment facilities per the medical emergency response declaration. At the peak of this crisis, nearly 8,000 people per day sought medical attention and treatment.
Aftermath
Deaths and illnesses
In the weeks following the incident the BBC reported that 17 people died, 23 were hospitalized, and a further 40,000 sought medical treatment (due to headaches, nosebleeds, and stomach pains). These numbers were revised upward over time, with the numbers reported by the Ivorian government in 2008 reaching 17 dead, dozens severely ill, 30,000 receiving medical treatment for ailments connected to the chemical exposure, of almost 100,000 seeking medical treatment at the time. While the company and the Ivorian government continue to disagree on the exact make up of the chemicals, specialists from the United Nations, France, and the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) were sent to Abidjan to investigate the situation.
Company claims
In response to the health crisis unfolding in Abidjan, Trafigura claimed that the waste was dirty water ("slops") used for cleaning the ship's gasoline tanks, but a Dutch government report, as well as an Ivorian investigation, disputed this, finding it to be toxic waste. Further company claims insinuated lack of proper waste disposal to be the fault of Compagnie Tommy rather than their own. Additionally, citing evidence from their own testing, Trafigura claimed the waste disposal could not have caused the death and ongoing health concerns throughout Abidjan, no matter how poorly their third-party contractor may have handled the situation. During an ongoing civil lawsuit by over 30,000 Ivorian citizens against Trafigura, a Dutch government report concluded that the liquid dumped contained two 'British tonnes' of hydrogen sulfide. Trafigura, following an investigative report by the BBC's Newsnight program, announced on 16 May 2009 that they would sue the BBC for libel.
Fall of government
Following revelations by local press and government on the extent of the illnesses involved, the nine-month-old transitional government of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny resigned. The government vowed to provide treatment and pay all medical costs associated with the waste dump.
In the aftermath of the crisis, many top government figures resigned. This mass resignation has been called "unprecedented" in Côte d'Ivoire's history. In an effort to prevent the contamination of the food chain, large numbers of livestock (among them 450 pigs) affected by the dump were culled.
Lawsuits
On 11 November 2006, a £100 million lawsuit was filed in the High Court in London by the UK firm Leigh Day & Co. alleging that "Trafigura were negligent and that this, and the nuisance resulting from their actions, caused the injuries to the local citizens." Martyn Day, of Leigh Day & Co said, "This has been a disaster on a monumental scale. We hold Trafigura fully to account for all the deaths and injuries that have resulted from the dumping of their waste." In response, Trafigura announced on Monday 13 November 2006 that it had started libel proceedings against British lawyer Martyn Day, of Leigh Day & Co.
On 20 September 2009, both cases were dropped in an out-of-court settlement. Trafigura announced it would pay more than $46 million to claimants, noting that 20 independent experts had examined the case but were "unable to identify a link".
The package would be divided into groups of $1,546 which would then be paid to 31,000 people. The deal came soon after a report by the UN claimed there was "strong prima facie evidence" that the waste was responsible for injuries. The company responded by saying they were "appalled at the basic lack of balance and analytical rigour reflected in the report." The Ivorian National Federation of Victims of Toxic Waste said Trafigura was trying to avoid a legal case. Trafigura claimed that at least 75% of the receivers of money agreed with the deal.
In January 2010, The Guardian reported that solicitors Leigh Day, working for the victims of toxic poisoning, had been ordered by a Côte d'Ivoire court to transfer victim's compensation to a "shadowy local organisation", using the account of Claude Gouhourou, a "community representative". Martyn Day, a partner in the firm, feared that the cash would not reach the victims.
Arrests
Shortly after it became apparent that the toxic waste from the Probo Koala had led to the outbreak of sickness, two Trafigura executives, Claude Dauphin and Jean-Pierre Valentini, travelled to Abidjan. They were arrested on 18 September, four days after their arrival, and were held in Abidjan's Maca prison, charged with breaking Côte d'Ivoire's laws against poisoning. There were several reported attacks of the two executives during their imprisonment. Trafigura called for their immediate release, but this did not occur until a settlement for the cleanup was paid to the Ivorian government.
Seven Ivorians were eventually brought to trial in Abidjan for their part in the dumping. The head of the Ivorian contractor who dumped more than 500 tonnes of toxic liquid was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November 2008.
European response
The Probo Koala had its cargo rejected in Europe by Amsterdam Port Services BV, and was to be charged €500,000 in nearby Moerdijk. On 19 August it offloaded a liquid waste in Abidjan, paying around €18,500 for its disposal.
According to the City of Amsterdam's report, before it dumped the waste in Abidjan, the Probo Koala was in port in the Netherlands from 2 to 5 July 2006. There the ship attempted to have the waste processed in Amsterdam, but Amsterdam Port Services BV, the company that had contracted to treat the waste, refused after its staff reported a noxious odor coming from the waste, which sickened several workers. A company specializing in the disposal of chemical waste, Afvalstoffen Terminal Moerdijk in nearby Moerdijk, tendered for the disposal of the waste (based on the samples it received) for €500,000. Instead, the material was pumped back into the Probo Koala, which then left port on 5 July, appearing on 19 August in Côte d'Ivoire, where Compagnie Tommy, which was registered only days before the arrival of the Probo Koala, was contracted for €18,500 to dispose of the waste.